Glider crash in Northern Italy

On April 18th of 2024, a British glider suffered a crash landing in Northern-Italy. The crash probably happened due to strong winds from the back which caused the aircraft to fly with the wind direction instead of flying against the wind. The aircraft was not able to lose enough speed to land safely.

Due to the high speed and the bank angle, the aircraft flipped which caused a stall. A stall is a condition in aerodynamics and aviation such that if the angle of attack on an aircraft increases beyond a certain point, then lift begins to decrease. The angle at which this occurs is called the critical angle of attack.

If the angle of attack increases beyond the critical value, the lift decreases and the aircraft descends, further increasing the angle of attack and causing further loss of lift. Videos show the extreme speed of the aircraft and a very hard landing. Luckily, the pilot(s) made it out alive.